


Awkward

by CaptainErica



Category: Big Bang (Band)
Genre: M/M, TODae - Freeform, awkward daters, bad at dating, but i mean why not right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 10:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15661782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainErica/pseuds/CaptainErica
Summary: Seungri is not very good at setting people up on dates, it seems.





	Awkward

_It’s one date._

Really, a single date shouldn’t be this big of a deal, but…

_Seunghyun_

It was a common name, in fact it was the same as Seungri’s, the one who had set the date up, but still… The guy in the photos really seemed to embody it somehow. He fleshed it out and made the name feel bigger, feel like it meant something more. Daesung almost didn’t agree with the whole set up, very nearly said no but, well, he hadn’t had a date in a long while.

And Seunghyun was cute.

“So, you’re current job is…” Daesung says, leading, sitting across from Seunghyun in a rather nice café off the main road. After the introductions, where Seunghyun had given him a firm handshake that spoke of business more than pleasure (but those hands…) they had sat down across from each other. Seunghyun had this easy vibe about him, leaning in his chair, ordering a cappuccino with a wave of his hand while Daesung requested a simple tea.

“Ah, yes, well,” Seunghyun starts, sitting up a little, straightening his nice button down. “I’m currently working at a smaller gallery, but I’ve been curating some bigger pieces for a local artist.”

Daesung nods, isn’t very into _art_ but, well… “Interesting? Does the curating interfere with your other job?” he asks, has a hard time coming up with a less… business like answer.

Seunghyun nods, smile soft and mysterious, collected. “No, it’s just to help a friend, really. He’s got a large collection of artwork that he wants to exhibit, and has a lot of thoughts but no real direction about how he wants it to go. I’ve been helping him go through everything, setting pieces aside. We’ll be opening in a week or so, if you’d like to see what I can do.”

“Oh, yes, of course.” Daesung says, a little taken aback by that, but… Well he couldn’t say no. “Where will it be?”

The date, or whatever it is, lasts a little while longer. By the end, Daesung is fairly convinced that Seunghyun does not consider it a date, and he tries very hard not to believe it’s a reflection on himself.

~

“Well, I mean, I don’t think it will go anywhere, very informal, you know?” Seunghyun says over a glass of wine two nights later. Seungri frowns at him, confused.

“I mean, that’s the point… the informality, making it more comfortable…” Seungri says, trying to see where this is going, what Seunghyun could possibly have disliked about Daesung.

Seunghyun frowns, thoughtful, swirling the liquid in the glass a little. “I couldn’t really gauge what he was selling, you know? The position, it seemed very vague, and I don’t think he was into the gallery or my experience.”

Seungri listens with slowly dawning horror. “Hyung, what did you think this was?” He asks, and he knows the answer, he thinks, but he wants to hear it (would explain why Daesung hasn’t said anything to him for the past few days).

Seunghyun furrows his eyebrows a little, lowering his glass a little from where he’d been about to take a sip. “What do you mean?”

“With Daesung, 2 days ago.” Seungri says, sitting forward a little. “The date.” He adds, because Seunghyun still didn’t seem to get it.

“Daesung? Ah, that was his name… He was into art, you said, an artist, looking for something.”

Seungri picks his jaw up off the floor, metaphorically of course; he manages to keep it relatively tightly closed in reality, “It was a _date_ , hyung. Daesung is a singer, looking for a _boyfriend_ oh my… oh my _god_ hyung.” And he doesn’t even know what to _say_ to that.

Seunghyun, for his part, is quiet a moment, but Seungri doesn’t notice because he’s freaking out. “Well, he didn’t seem interested.” Seunghyun says, before downing the rest of his glass of wine and reaching to pour another. He sounds distracted, though, like he isn’t sure of himself and Seungri thinks that’s a good thing.

~

Daesung thinks he’s pretty good-natured, thinks he really accepts a lot of things, doesn’t get bent out of shape over things… But Seunghyun.

That _date_ had been horrible. It’s not that they hadn’t talked or that Seunghyun himself wasn’t a good guy or anything it was just, well… It felt like Seunghyun had, well, like he had been trying to sell himself; but not to date. Which was truly disappointing, really.

“He’s a good person, he’s just, he’s _confused._ ” Seungri says, and Daesung frowns at him, then looks down at his meal.

“Or he wasn’t into me, which is fine, Seungri.” He says, and Seungri makes a pained little face.

“No, no, he’s just an idiot.”

Daesung raises his eyebrows, Seungri very certain for a moment before he deflates. “That was rude, Ri.”

“Ah but you don’t. He didn’t mean it, he’s just really _thick_ sometimes, he thought I was setting him up on an interview, you know? I dunno.” Seungri says, a soft pout pulling at his animated face.

“A rather poor interview, as I’ve never had any interest in paintings.” Daesung says, and then he sighs. “Ah Seungri, it’s fine, it isn’t worth talking about you know? It’s all in the past.”

He can’t believe, honestly and truly cannot believe, that Seunghyun hadn’t guessed at some point that that wasn’t a job interview. Honestly he didn’t know _anything_ about art, not even a little thing…

A week later, and while it is mostly out of his mind, Daesung sees a sign for a gallery that’s opening the next night and…

“Youngbae, come to a gallery opening with me tomorrow.” He says, standing in front of the sign, bag slung over his shoulder, extremely casual with his phone against his ear.

“We tried dating, didn’t we? It just made Seungri uncomfortable.” Youngbae says by way of answer, and Daesung sighs, rolling his eyes.

“This isn’t a _date_ , hyung, it’s culture, or something. Just come, yeah?”

“Why?”

Daesung sighs, turns forcefully away from the poster, pulls in another breath, and walks away. “Maybe you’ll meet someone, you like those _artsy_ types, just help me out.”

“Fine.” Youngbae says, simple and decisive, and Daesung thanks him before getting off the phone and shoving it in his pocket, frowning at himself.

~

“So I told her, you know, that she couldn’t be obsessed with boys who weren’t going to appreciate her worth, which is _obvious,_ really, but she’s young.” Jiyong says, stealing a maraschino cherry from someone else’s drink to pop into his mouth. He’s wearing a loose shirt in multiple colors that shows off that he’s been slacking in the eating department lately, a beanie pulled down over his messy hair (it’s been washed, Seunghyun made sure).

He has an audience, which is a good thing, but they’re all friends, which is also a good thing; Bom will be pissed if she finds out he was talking like this. Seunghyun finds it funny, though, so he doesn’t try to stop Jiyong who is clearly nervous about this whole gallery opening thing. He takes a sip of his drink, smiling softly, and then casts his eyes around the room.

They land, impossibly, on that guy: Daesung.

Seunghyun isn’t ready to admit that he read that meeting wrong, but only because he still thinks Daesung could have done something, said something to get his attention or-. Or maybe Daesung hadn’t been interested, so when it was clear that he had no idea it was supposed to be a date, he didn’t try to change anything.

He shakes his head, looking back toward Jiyong and downing his drink. “Ji, you should go and see if anyone has questions about your pieces.” He says, loud enough that the small group of friends that Jiyong tried to constantly surround himself don’t drown him out.

Jiyong sends Seunghyun a pout, specially reserved for him, and slips out of the throng of people to come over to Seunghyun’s side. “You’re not wrong, come with me.”

~

“It’s all very… Abstract?”

Daesung sighs, glad there were drinks so he could take a sip of one now to hide his reaction. He was also glad that Youngbae had come, as this was probably not even the right gallery opening and honestly what had he been thinking?

“Well, that’s the point, right? I think it’s something about showing the- expressing your inner emotion through brush strokes and color but I’ll admit I wasn’t listening very well.” Daesung says, staring at the splash of colors before them with very little interest, but trying to seem like he’s just nonchalant.

Youngbae laughs, but covers it with his glass as a couple of people come closer. “Ah, huh, yeah I-“ but Youngbae cut himself off, and Daesung tilts his head to find out why and there is Seunghyun with someone else… “I think I can see the emotion.” Youngbae finishes, taking a rather large sip of his drink afterward, cheeks a light red.

“Oh?” The man Daesung doesn’t know says, and this is why Youngbae was caught off guard; he’s exactly Youngbae’s type. “Tell me what you see?” The man says, interested to hear, apparently, and Daesung bites his lip, then takes a sip to cover it.

Youngbae looks to Daesung, who makes an innocent face and looks away (eyes landing on Seunghyun, which is worse, probably, because Seunghyun is looking at him). “Ah, well, red is, um, passionate, but it’s all muted here.” He says, fumbling.

The guys seems to find it sweet though, smiling, amused and sweet. “I think you’re on to something, but when I was painting it, I’m not sure it was _passion_ I was feeling, you know? Maybe…” he trails off, watching with clear enjoyment as Youngbae blushes further.

Seunghyun steps in before Daesung can hear how Youngbae stutters his way through this one.

“I was under the impression you didn’t much care for art.” He says, and Daesung doesn’t think that’s very fair, as he had _tried_.

“It’s not my first choice.” Daesung says, dignified, “But I’m always willing to learn something new.”

Seunghyun smiles in that lazy, slow way that only someone with a lot of confidence can muster. “Care for a quick lesson?”

Daesung considers him, a little wary. “Yeah.” He says, eyes wandering to Youngbae who’s rather taken with the artist. “Suppose we can leave them to their…”

Seunghyun snorts, setting his empty glass down and reaching for a full one as a tray passes them. “Yeah, no need to worry about Jiyong and your friend.” He says, and Daesung logs the name away, putting down his glass and nodding for Seunghyun to lead him on, hands behind his back.

“Let’s try this again, then. I’m Daesung, I’m not hiring for any galleries, and Seungri is clearly bad at explaining things if you thought I might be.” He says, following Seunghyun away and over to another painting that he’ll try to care about.

Seunghyun gives him another little smile. “He said you were an artist, so I’m afraid I assumed.” He says, then stops them, turning to the piece, eyeing it carefully.

Daesung covers his snort of laughter with an appetizer he snags off a passing tray. “He’s always rather vague, I’ll give you that.” He says, “But I sing, that’s what he meant.” He says, a downplay, and not _everything_ but close enough.

“Ah, definitely a different type of art than I was imagining.” Seunghyun says, smile inscrutable. “But look here, tell me what you see?” He asks, and Daesung sighs and looks over at the painting, biting his lip.

~

Daesung knows nothing about art, and it delights Seunghyun, quite a lot. He tells Seungri about it, since all Jiyong wants to talk about is _Youngbae_ ; his big, beefy new boyfriend who probably has not been told he’s Jiyong’s boyfriend yet but based on what Seunghyun has heard… Youngbae probably doesn’t need to be told; he’s willing.

“Yeah, he’s a singer, I said that, he’s in the big musicals, you know? Always gets pretty good parts. He’s in one right now.” Seungri says, and Seunghyun frowns, pulled out of his reverie.

“A musical? Now?” Seunghyun asks, and Seungri sighs as if Seunghyun had said something ridiculous.

“Yes, he’s in, oh, I forgot the name, but it’s playing this weekend still.” Seungri says, shrugging as he reaches for something from the table between them. “Did you want to go or something? I have tickets, I was thinking of giving them to Youngbae because of Jiyong but, well…”

Seunghyun accepts a ticket, the tickets, feels like he needs to see this. Youngbae is surprised when it’s offered, has been to practices, but since Jiyong is excited about it he readily agrees. Seunghyun is…

He’s amazed.

Daesung has a beautiful voice, full and bright and he’s so expressive… Seunghyun isn’t sure what to do with this information. When Youngbae sneaks them backstage to meet Daesung, Seunghyun keeps his cool for long enough to nod, mysterious smile on his lips before they’re ushered out with a promise for drinks wrangled from Daesung when he’s out of his stage makeup.

“He’s embarrassed, we surprised him, but he’ll meet us at this bar.” Youngbae says, leading them along, Jiyong hanging off of his arm, clothes rather insane (to be expected, but now he seems to be worse, like he’s trying to goad Youngbae into eventually disagreeing with his outfit).

Daesung shows up after what seems like almost an hour to Seunghyun, but he can’t be blamed for feeling that way because Jiyong is far too much to be around at any time. It’s worse now that he’s so infatuated with Youngbae, Seunghyun feels.

He’s sipping on a drink that Youngbae had ordered him when Daesung sidles up beside him, leaning over the bar to get something, then leaning back, smiling. Daesung had a beautiful smile, one that could take you apart and stitch you back up. It was unfair, and Seunghyun really deserve to like it, he thinks, since he had so thoroughly blown their first try (and so woefully made up for it the last time they spoke at the gallery). He just sips his drink, smiling, lets Youngbae and Jiyong talk with him and ask all sorts of questions.

“Ah, it was great, the play.” Seunghyun says, a little tipsy, not that anyone can tell now. “You were great, are great.” He adds. It’s much later now, and Youngbae and Jiyong have turned in on themselves in a corner of the bar, leaving Seunghyun alone with a far more sober Daesung.

Daesung who is grinning behind his glass at him. “It’s one of my favorites that I’ve done this year, I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He says.

“You didn’t say you were an actor, you just said you sing.” Seunghyun says, a small amount of accusation that is mostly covered by his tipsiness in his voice.

Daesung snorts softly, “Maybe, but you didn’t inquire further, so I figured you weren’t interested.” He says, and it’s a bit teasingly, like maybe he knows Seunghyun is tipsy, knows Seunghyun… Or like maybe he’s referring to their previous meetings or…

“I was teaching you about art, it’s difficult to talk about both things.” He says, and Daesung laughs.

“Yeah, I suppose so.” Daesung says quietly, amused, clearly. “Well, you can ask me all about it next time we meet, since I spent an hour listening to you talk about _art_.” He says, which is unfair, Seunghyun thinks, as it was more around 2 and a half hours if they counted the time spent in the gallery as well.

But he agrees, which is surprising because he’s so bad at this whole dating thing, liking people thing. He agrees to see Daesung a couple days later, and then, well… It’s an awful date, but at least then he knows they’re both awful at this dating thing, so they try again, and again, and again, until they’re both pretty sure they are getting it right.


End file.
